LG Optimus LTE

Several of the Android smartphones from LG were presented with iF product design awards for 2013. In all, this list includes the Optimus Life, Lucid 4G, Optimus G, Optimus L7, Optimus L9 and Optimus LTE2. With the exception of the Optimus Life and the Optimus LTE2, these were all design awards in the smartphone category.

When it comes to Pentile matrix displays, there are three major opinions: those who don't know, those who don't care, and those who absolutely can't stand them. LG seems to be squarely in the third camp, and they want to make sure that Chinese customers know exactly where they stand. To that end they've renamed their current flagship Optimus LTE (known as the LG Nitro HD and the LG Spectrum here in the States) to "Optimus True HD LTE", highlighting the fact that their 4.5-inch IPS 720p panels use a standard matrix layout. The first market to see the change will be Hong Kong.

The Optimus LTE is LG's flagship phone, at least until the Optimus 4X HD arrives. That being the case, it's strange that it's only available in four countries: LG's home turf South Korea, neighbor Japan, plus Canada and the United States (as the Nitro HD and Spectrum on AT&T and Verizon, respectively). GSM Dome got their hands on a familiar looking model, the Optimus LTE P936, that appears to be identical to the international version except for branding. The new model is obviously headed somewhere, though there's no indication of where that might be.

LG's right proud of its international flagship, the Optimus LTE, and rightly so. The high-end smartphone has sold more than a million units worldwide, including Asian and North American markets. The company hopes to sell a few more in Canada soon, at the behest of wireless carrier Telus: the cellular provider recently showed up in a list of supported carriers on LG's Canadian website. Telus has remained mum on the subject, probably because its LTE network isn't scheduled to go live until later this month. Canadian competitor Bell as the Optimus 4G LTE.

Though their footprint in the United States isn't as large as they'd like, LG remains a major player in the worldwide smartphone game. case in point: the company announced today that its current flagship, the Optimus LTE, has sold over a million phones in all its various territories. LG's home country of South Korea accounts for a whopping 600,000 phones all by itself, with the rest being split between the United States, United Kingdom, United States and Canada.

Survival horror fans, prepare to be excited... and then bitterly disappointed. LG (yup, LG, not developer Capcom) announced today that the excellent Resident Evil 4 is now available on Android. If you live in LG's home territory of South Korea. And you have an LG phone with access to their proprietary U+ Market. And it uses an LTE radio. And you've got about five bucks you're not particularly fond of. Android gamers, try to contain your joy.

It looks like LG is all set to start doing a few of their own exclusive launch event parties for upcoming smartphones because we've just got word that LG will be holding an "exclusive launch event" on December 1st (next Thursday). The invite sure doesn't give us a lot of details and everything is hidden under red drapes as you can see from the invite image but we have a few guesses already.

We've seen a few leaks and videos of the LG Optimus LTE but today we have a little treat, and that is this 4G LTE 720p packing smartphone is headed to AT&T as the LG Nitro HD. It was spotted in the wild back in September and was just recently launched on Bell Canada. With Bell sharing the same frequencies as AT&T we had a feeling it was coming soon, but this gives us even more confirmation.

Just a few weeks ago LG unveiled its jaw-dropping Optimus LTE to spec junkies the world over, and those living in the great white north can get a crack at it on Bell soon. In Canada the phone will be known as the LG Optimus Eye, paying homage to its 8 megapixel/1080p rear camera. That's not what will be turning the eye of Canadian consumers, however.